The Voice Of History Is

It Was Among The Ruins Of The Capitol That I First Conceived The Idea Of A Work Which Has Amused And Exercised Nearly Twenty Years Of My Life.

The Inactivity Of A Conqueror Betrays The Loss Of Strength And Blood . . .

Both Moscow And [kiev], The Modern And The Ancient Capitals, Were Reduced To Ashes [by The Tartars]; A Temporary Ruin, Less Fatal Than The Deep, And Perhaps Indelible, Mark, Which A Servitude Of Two Hundred Years Has Imprinted On The Character Of The Russians.

A Heart To Resolve, A Head To Contrive, And A Hand To Execute.

Whenever The Spirit Of Fanaticism, At Once So Credulous And So Crafty, Has Insinuated Itself Into A Noble Mind, It Insensibly Corrodes The Vital Principles Of Virtue And Veracity.